Aren't games usually meant to be accessible on a daily basis? I mean I have games I play everyday, and "Moving" isn't one of them. In fact, in my 24 years on this planet, I have not once moved. Does that mean I lost before I even started playing? I hate this game.
Also it seems like a hassle and an extra burden to have while moving. The last thing I would want to do is scan boxes with my phone while trying to move. Hell most people are so lazy now a days they just pay someone to move their stuff for them. Do you have the pay the movers extra to play the game for you?
Here’s a thought. If gamification is going to mean more than random badges and share buttons on websites, it also needs to branch into areas where gaming is not the first thing that leaps to mind. In other words, we need to see continued innovation in both the “what” and the “where.”
To that end, let’s engage in a series of hypothetical exercises designed to unlock the future potential of gamification. Every so often, this column will ask how one would add gamification elements to everyday life situations, big and small. I’ll posit some suggestions, but more importantly, open the floor to your thoughts and ideas. Sometimes we may uncover a new area that’s crying out for interactive engagement, others of these scenarios might end up showing up that there’s isn’t necessarily a place for gamification in everything, and that’s fine, too.
To kick things off, let’s look at one of the more unpleasant, inconvenient, and time-consuming experiences one can have — moving. I recently packed up and moved after 11-plus years at the same address. That I was only moving a few block away, and even staying in the same zip code, surely minimized the impact, but it was a major life upheaval anyway. How might making a kind of game out of sorting, packing, and shipping all those boxes have made the experience at least a less unpleasant?
• Moving company boxes could be pre-printed with QR codes, tied into an iOS or Android app. Spouses, or parents and children, could compete to see who can pack the most boxes, or who’s boxes arrive at the new house first.
• Actual objects — your TV, a lamp, etc. could be tagged to “check in” along the way, and earn badges or some other acknowledgement.
• Notifying people and businesses of your new address is a major hassle, and forwarding mail is a big expense for the USPS. Why not create a social media game where players share their new address with Facebook friends, just as you share Farmville updates or in-game gifts?
• What location-based social networking tool, from Foursquare to Yelp, would not like to know when someone moves to a new neighborhood? Pop-up notifications from these apps and others, via smartphone, of useful shops, restaurants, and services would be genuinely useful to both users and advertisers.
These ideas (shaky as some of them may be) just scratch the surface of what you could do with adding game elements to the moving process. I’d love to hear your brainstorms for gamifying a household move, or why you think the entire idea is a waste of time (which it very well might be). Next time, we’ll pick another seemingly out-of-left field topic to explore gamification options for.
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